Australian skin cancer experts have issued a blunt warning about using artificial intelligence tools to check for melanoma and other skin cancers, according to a Gold Coast Bulletin report.

That warning lands in a country where skin cancer risk sits at the top of the public-health agenda. Australia records among the highest skin cancer rates in the world, and Queensland — home to the Gold Coast — carries some of the country's steepest UV exposure. The experts' message, as relayed by the publication: don't substitute an app for a trained clinician's examination.

The caution matters because consumer-facing AI skin-check tools have multiplied quickly. Phone-based lesion photography apps and AI-powered analysis services now market directly to patients, promising convenience and speed. But the experts flagged real risks when patients use these tools as a first — or only — line of assessment.

What can go wrong with an AI skin check?

The core concern is twofold, and both directions carry clinical weight:

• False reassurance. A tool that clears a lesion can delay a patient's visit to a doctor, and with melanoma, delay directly worsens outcomes.
• False alarms. Over-referral of benign lesions can flood clinics and drive unnecessary excisions and patient anxiety.

For dermatologists and primary-care clinicians, the second issue translates into consultation volume; the first translates into late-stage diagnoses — the outcome every skin-cancer pathway is built to avoid.

What does this change for clinicians?

In practical terms, nothing about the standard of care. A full-body skin examination by a trained clinician, supported by dermoscopy where indicated, remains the reference pathway. The experts' warning gives clinicians a clear talking point for patients who arrive armed with an app's verdict — the tool's output is not a diagnosis, and it should never gatekeep an in-person assessment.

It also puts a burden on patient communication. Practices in high-UV regions may want to preempt the question: patients who use AI tools should bring the lesion — and the app's screenshot — to a consultation, not treat the app's answer as clearance.

The regulatory backdrop

Australia's Therapeutic Goods Administration regulates software-based medical devices, including AI diagnostic tools, and consumer health apps sit in a grey zone that regulators worldwide are still working to define. The experts' warning underscores that gap: the technology is spreading faster than the evidence base and the rules around it.

What's next

Expect this debate to intensify as AI tools improve and as more patients adopt them. The Gold Coast experts' bottom line for now is straightforward: AI may eventually earn a supporting role in skin cancer detection, but a suspicious lesion warrants a human expert — today.